Transport assessment

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council commissioned Parsons Brinckerhoff to undertake a high level Transport Assessment (TA) in support of its Local Plan. The assessment was undertaken using a spreadsheet model which considered traffic flows on the Basingstoke network and was the first level of assessment of potential impacts of development. The model considered a base year of 2012 and three forecasting years (2019, 2024 and 2029), covering both the AM and PM peak periods.

Within the study, the scale and distribution of development detailed in the adopted Local Plan was considered. The study compared the impact of the Local Plan against a baseline position at the three forecasting years (based on the anticipated growth in car use occurring without any additional Local Plan development). This was updated to support and inform each version of the draft Local Plan, with the most recent version published in February 2015 (to support the Mid Examination Proposed Main Modifications).

The study provides initial conclusions of the overall impact of the forecast growth on the highway network and goes on to identify and cost potential infrastructure opportunities to mitigate the impact of development at various affected junctions.

A short statement set out below as a PDF document, outlines the agreed position between the Borough Council and Hampshire County Council (HCC) as the Highway Authority.

It should also be noted HCC will require more detailed work to be undertaken to further develop the mitigation measures proposed and therefore the scale and nature of the highway improvements delivered over the plan period may differ from those proposed in this study. It is recommended that prior to any future design work, discussions with HCC are had to ensure the scope of additional work can be agreed.

The assessments undertaken factor in modal shift from use of the private car to public transport, walking and cycling, however the levels of traffic generated can be considered to be a worst case scenario. The model outputs forecast that some junctions on the defined network may experience delays in the future as a result of development contained in the Local Plan and as a result of an increase in traffic levels generally. However, the following considerations need to be taken into account when reviewing the assessment and the outputs from the model, which do not consider the scope for behavioural changes that may result due to increased congestion at a particular junction. For example, the spreading of journeys to times which are less busy or the scope to divert to alternative routes.

The Local Plan TA is available to download below.

Work has recently commenced on a new Transport Assessment to support the Local Plan Update, which is being undertaken by Jacobs on behalf of the Borough Council. Updates will be posted on this page as progress is made.